


After Atlantic City

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Drama, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2421866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Strauss has left the building.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Atlantic City

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler for JJ.

The work was done but she still sat at her desk. It had started raining; she watched it streak down the picture window in her office. It was time to go, past time, but she didn’t know where to go. Home was the logical answer but she didn’t want to be there alone. She could go to him but wasn’t sure he wanted to see her. They surely all hated her now, thought she was personally responsible for the transfer of Jennifer Jareau. She had nothing to do with it; it was out of her hands.

For years, decades really, there had been interdepartmental battles for the best minds in the federal government. She could remember how Deputy Director Douglas went to the mat for her when the State Department wanted her for their big crossover Interpol project at the height of the Cold War. Erin was still moving up the ladder then, be damned if the FBI wanted to let her go. It didn’t happen that way these days…it was war out there.

Unfortunately the amount of recruits was not matching the amount of spaces needed to be filled. Good agents were hard to find and harder to keep. The private sector offered more money and other agencies offered more glory, whether they intended to really give it to them or not. Aaron Hotchner had the best team…he had to expect to lose more of them before this was over.

Toying with her cell phone, she thought about calling him. She wanted to be with him tonight but had a feeling he didn’t feel the same. She could hardly bear to think that he blamed her as well. The family followed in lockstep with their fearless leader, whether what he knew was fact or speculation. While the couple had thus far weathered some tumultuous storms, this might be enough to permanently sink their ship. Rejection was too much for her to take…loneliness was more acceptable.

Still, against her better judgment, she pushed four on her cell phone. It rang and rang and rang some more. She knew what was coming.

‘ _You’ve reached Dave, please leave a message. Thanks_.’

Erin sighed and hung up. He would see she called; there was no point in leaving a message. She didn’t even know what to say. It had been a long day, a long month, and it was over.

Things happened that people didn’t want to happen but that’s the way it went sometimes. Erin didn’t want to lose Jennifer Jareau either. Finding a media liaison of her caliber wasn’t going to be easy. Not that the DoJ gave a damn…they won the battle. Erin might end up losing the war.

She got up and prepared to leave. Today was over and good riddance to it. Sometimes she got sick of playing the villain. It was the price she had to pay but that didn’t mean she liked it.

This was the kind of night to draw a bath, pour a strong drink, put on some good music, and forget. This was a night when she would slip under the water and see how long she could hold her breath before emerging. This was the kind of night she would need him to fuck her, even if she wanted desperately to make love, because she wanted to feel the pleasure of the pain. Misery loves company.

“I thought you would've exited stage right by now.”

Erin stopped moving when she heard the voice. She had no idea why she was afraid to turn around. Perhaps she didn’t want to see the hatred on his face. No, David Rossi had a poker face. But his eyes, she had always been able to read his eyes.

“Then why did you come down here?” she asked, turning to him.

“Because sometimes I'm wrong.”

“Only sometimes?”

“Once in a while, yeah. You need a lift?”

Well wasn’t that a loaded question. She wanted to smile, felt it in the pit of her stomach, but didn’t quite make it.

“Yeah.” Erin nodded.

Dave held out his arm like the gentleman he could sometimes be.

“C'mon, its time to go home.”

She took hold and they walked out of the office, into the outer office, and then out to the elevator. No one was around; it was one of those rare quiet nights in Quantico. She wondered if Agent Hotchner and his team had already left the building. She found Jennifer’s exit interview on her assistant’s desk about an hour ago. Surely they didn’t want to stick around and feel sorry for themselves.

Maybe they went out to drink and curse her name. If Erin woke in pain tomorrow it would probably be from Emily Prentiss and Penelope Garcia sticking pins in the Cupi doll they had in her likeness. She wasn’t sure that such a doll existed but if it didn’t then it would after tonight. Dave would’ve probably gone with them for something like that.

She wondered how much of the role he played for them when the Strauss bashing came out. Actually she did her best not to wonder about any of that. She hadn't been so unnerved about a relationship since they had been together the first time. In this situation there was no comfort in some things never changing.

“Tell me what you're thinking.” He said.

They had made it down twelve floors on the elevator. They both signed out for the night and walked out to his car, a metallic green Mangusta coupe. It was an expensive car that Erin adored. She also adored that he always held the door open for her.

“If I feel prickly pains in my back or chest, someone is poking a voodoo doll.” She replied.

Dave smirked as he closed her door and went over to the driver’s side.

“Do you really believe that?” he asked, starting the engine.

“I don’t know what I believe sometimes. Today would definitely be a voodoo day though.”

“Do you know what happened tonight?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean do you know what happened tonight.”

“A lot happened so enlighten me to which happening you're referring.” Erin said.

“We saved a girl’s life. A young girl, a brave girl, clung to life in shark infested waters for three days, and we saved her. That’s what happened tonight.”

“I heard about that.”

“She got to go home to her family.” Dave said. “She gets to go on with her life, her dreams; that’s what we do.”

“That’s not what I do.”

“Oh please. You think I don’t know how you fought tooth and nail for a budget we were no way in hell supposed to get.”

“Its still not enough.” Erin replied.

“It was more than they were going to give us. You're not the bad guy.”

“Tonight.” She added.

“Period.”

“I could retire tomorrow and get my full pension. I could get my gold watch, go straight to the airport and get a ticket.”

“To where?” Dave asked, turning up Billie Holliday on the radio.

“I have no idea.”

“Then you're not ready to go. Because when you're ready to go, you'll know where.”

“Thank you Yoda.” She said.

“Welcome, you are.”

Erin burst into laughter. She didn’t see that coming. Sometimes she hated that Dave had all the answers. They weren't always right or fit into what she was thinking or planning, but he would express them anyway. Then he did something adorable like that and she forgave him.

“Strauss has left the building.” She said, running her hands over her face.

“I saw her, Rossi was with her. I hope they're going somewhere to fuck.”

“Strauss doesn’t do things like that…she has a reputation to uphold.”

“So does Rossi. Fifty dollars says he gets her out of those knickers.”

“You're on.”

Dave smiled and Erin closed her eyes for a moment. She was glad Strauss was “gone”; she needed to be Erin tonight. Erin needed some TLC and David knew how to give it and relished doing so.

***

She had her hot bubble bath, two glasses of wine, and Charlie Parker on vinyl. She had a neck massage, a shoulder massage, and a foot massage. She had his face between her thighs and the fiercest orgasm she could remember in some time. And now she had cuddling. Erin spent twenty five years in another man’s arms but it didn’t have anything on this.

She felt a little guilty. He didn’t ask her for anything tonight. He didn’t ask her for sex, love, or affection. He just took care of her and now held on to her.

It wasn’t as if Erin didn’t love reciprocating with Dave. Anything he asked for, in the bedroom and beyond, she was willing to give. She liked that they were equals in their relationship…it was sexy. Give and take never overwhelmed as too much of one or the other had over the years.

“I didn’t want this.” She whispered.

“What? It seemed as if you liked it to me.” Dave replied.

“I didn’t mean _this_ , this was wonderful. I was talking about Jennifer Jareau’s transfer. I'm sure the whole team thinks it’s my fault.”

“Why do you care what other people think?” he asked.

“What do you think?”

“What do I think about what?”

“David, c'mon.” Erin sat up, moving out of his arms. Dave opened his eyes and looked at her. “Do you think this was my fault?”

“I've been in the FBI a long time. I know politics when I smell it. Do I think that it sucks, yes I do. Do I think it was some conspiracy between you and whoever the fuck to break up our family…no I don’t?

“You’re the boss, you're gonna take heat when things happen that we don’t like. We know no matter what that Hotch has our backs; that he’ll go to the depths of hell to fight for us. We know you're a bureaucrat. It’s easier to blame the bureaucrat.”

“Well I damn sure don’t want the DoJ or anyone else stealing valuable members of my team. Everyone is my team, not just Jennifer Jareau. All of you reflect on me, good, bad or indifferent. And then Shannon had the brazen audacity to say I should be grateful everyone wants to take what I have. He said it should be a sign of the good work I've done.”

“Fuck him.” Dave pulled her back into his arms.

“My sentiments exactly. I'm sorry.”

“I know you are.”

“I feel like I'm using all ten fingers sometimes to plug up a leaky boat. It doesn’t help that the people around me just think I'm some bureaucrat who sits in an office and doesn’t know what they go through out there.”

“You know what? All you can be is Erin Strauss. You can't worry about what everyone else thinks. It’s easy to drive a fancy sports car when Mom gives you the keys. You keep us going out there. Even when you’re putting your foot on our necks, I know you’ve backed off on a lot of things and let us do our jobs. You’ve been there.”

“I've never really been there.” she replied. “I hated the field. It wasn’t for me.”

“Everyone can't be a field Agent. It surely takes it toll on your soul.” Dave said.

“How’s your soul doing?”

“It’s just fine at the moment. I always feel better when I know you do. You're feeling good right?” He stroked her back.

“I feel wonderful, thank you. I thought maybe you wouldn’t want to see me tonight.”

“You're adorable when you're insecure.”

“I'm not insecure, I…” Erin didn’t know what to say. She kissed his heartbeat. “I don't want to cause any trouble between you and the people you care about, David.”

“I care about you. On the basest level, I damn sure don’t want to massage and cuddle with any of my teammates. On a higher level, we aren’t always going to see eye to eye in everything that we do. This job puts us at odds on the regular basis. It hasn’t once stopped me from loving you. Its not gonna stop me.”

“Why?”

“Because you smell good.”

“David…”

“What? You can't deny it. You smell so damn good, I hate washing my sheets after you leave.” He laughed. “You make me happy Erin, when I'm happy I don’t need to constantly question that feeling. You don’t either.

“This thing with JJ rattled you; made you think maybe I would be angry at you for her being transferred to a better paying job that might allow her more time to spend with her son. I know she loved her job and there are few people, particularly my team, that would leave the BAU voluntarily. But there will come a time when we all have to go. If we can do it with as much grace and dignity as JJ, that’s a victory.”

Erin didn’t say anything else. She just cuddled in Dave’s arms and closed her eyes. It was time for this day to end and this was the perfect ending. She didn’t think she would get it but sometimes it was OK for Erin to be wrong.

Tomorrow it would be right back to the war of paperwork, red tape, and territorial pissings. Soon Dave would be back in the field chasing another maniac who did things that might keep him up at night. It was fitting that they should spend this night sleeping together. In the morning she would show him how grateful she was for his love and care. Things were always better when they were equal.

***

  



End file.
